Calligraphy

Chinese New Years is coming up.

It's got me thinking about the time I spent in China.

When on a short vacation I went to a park.  There were dozens of Chinese men doing calligraphy with water: using mops, bottles, and paintbrushes.  

This man could write with both hands at the same time.  It was amazing!  

I love thinking back to the time I spent in China.  I learned SO much!  I learned about the world, myself, and what I wanted to do with my future.  I met great people and kids.  Happy [early] Chinese New Years!

Box

We got a new (to us) car!  It's a Scion XB 2005 with 57,000 miles.  I'm not really a fan of how these cars look, but WOW!!!  They are so spacious!  When I am inside I don't care what the outside looks like!  I am a solid 6'2'' and 4' of my body is legs... so I am usually uncomfortable in a car.  Usually.  But not in our new box.  Oh no!  If I scoot the front seats ALL THE WAY back and sit in the back seat I still have 4 inches in front of my knees!  That may not mean a lot to some of you, but for those of you who face this same problem you know what I mean.  I love it!  It's also going to be a good baby car (no, this is not an announcement...) because the doors provide lots of space and it'll be easy to get a baby in without bending down super far.  

Tanner is also loving that on the cold mornings he doesn't have to ride his motorcycle to work.  

So even though I don't love how this car looks (is IS growing on me though) I love how spacious it is.

A Birthday!

My nephew Sterling turned 1 this past week.  This last year has gone by fast!

Sterling is a lot of fun.  He is much more relaxed and chill than his older brother Brigham.  He is sweet, loves to play with anything his older brother is touching, and hasn't seen the value of learning to walk yet.

Since it was his 1st birthday he got his own little cake for himself.  He dug.right.in!  He made such 

 a mess and it was SO FUN to watch.

Resolutions

I am the kind of girl that likes to do lists and goals.  Having said that, I did terrible with last year's goals: 50%.  But that's okay.  I have higher hopes for this year!!  Here are my resolutions for this year:


1. Read the scriptures daily (I have been slacking)

2. pray each morning and night (also slacking)

3. Get pregnant (was on my list last year, but didn't happen)

4. Cook 4 times a week (we have been eating out too much; time to be healthier and more frugal)

5. Learn 3 new song on the piano

6. Pay off all our debt (student loans and credit cards)

7. Buy a new (to us) car

8. Blog once a week

9. Take more pictures


Well, I made these goals last Sunday and since then I have read scriptures 6/7 days, said my prayers everyday, cooked 4 times, blogged twice, and bought a new car!  Things are right on track :)

Lately

It's been too ling since I have written and so I thought I's play catch up!

My husband sent me roses "just because".  I love that!  I know they are just flowers, but they make me feel so loved.  I just like knowing that Tanner is thinking about me and wants me to know it <3

I got a new laptop!  You may remember that our house was broken into and my laptop and ipod were stolen.  I am happy to report that I got a new one of each.  My new laptop's name is Gigi (or G.G. for Gregron's Ghost)  I am really loving it except that it's made of metal and glass and gets quite cold.

Tanner got these wretched shoes on his mission and wore them WAY LONGER than he should have.  I hated those things and he finally let me buy him a new pair and throw these old ones away!!!  Horray!

We have a family tradition of making gingerbread houses (that's where my mom and dad's story begins!) each year.  Here is the one Tanner and I made this year.  One of my favorite parts is that I gave the gingerbread people frosting hair.

Our mortgage company (lender, actually, but it's all the same to me) rented a theatre and invites us to see the movie Tangled for free!  We even got to bring 8 other people as well.  Santa was there so we got a picture to be festive.  I loved the movie by the way.

My sister-in-law made me pajama pants out of this amazing red and white fabric.  I love them!  I also got some pretty sweet Christmas presents (I made a list of what I wanted and Tanner got me everything on the list!)  i got an ipod dock, beautiful red Crock pot, boots, 5 shirts, Anne of Green Gables (1 and 2) on DVD, a lace skirt,

I thoroughly enjoyed my 2 weeks off from work!  They were much needed and to be honest I didn't do a whole lot.  I slept in, kept the house nice and tidy, cooked more, read, relaxed, hung out with my family, helped my brother and sister-in-law move, worked one day at the fabric store, and enjoyed having no commitments.   But now it's back to work and parent teacher conferences next week.

Just before Christmas break I straightened my hair on day and when a student saw me in the morning he said "Mrs. Layton!!!?  Is that really you?"  haha.

We are also teaching sunday school at church.  We taught 15/16 year olds for 4 weeks, then they rearranged for the new year and we are teaching 12/13 year olds.  It's been fun having a church calling with Tanner; we have always had separate callings.